Colors of Life and Death series
Truth in Dreams
by Songbird21
Chapter 9
((Sigh)) Well, at least this chapter is a nice 3400 words to make up for the time it took to write it. Keep your fingers crossed for a faster update next time.
The narrator I had previously cast has rejoined us so look for chapter 3 of the radioplay sometime in the next month.
There are now fifteen pages from the completely amazing Charu-san! Check 'em out! Naruto and Hinata's first kiss is in those pages!!! ((Dies of joy))
Chiyo stared down at a circular piece of wood that was cracked in half...with blood oozing out of it. There was also what looked like chunks of tissue inside. "So...that's where you kept your organic parts," she said sadly. "I am sorry, my grandson—it is because of my poor guidance that you came to this end."
Sakura put a hand on Chiyo's shoulder. "Come on. You're the last one," she said with a small smile.
"Yes..." Chiyo gave one last look at her grandson's remains. "I suppose I should be evaluated. Sakura, was it?"
"Hai," Sakura replied with a slight nod.
"Thank you for the use of your...shadow puppet. That's quite the kekkai genkai you have there," Chiyo said as they began walking.
Sakura brushed a stray strand of hair out of her face. "Thank you. I just learned about it last year."
"Your blond friend—What clan is he from? Is he a Namikaze?"
Sakura blinked rapidly. "Yeah. How did you know?"
"I saw Minato fight in the great wars," Chiyo said as she looked at the sky wistfully, "He was unlike any shinobi I've ever seen. The instant I saw Naruto I knew they had to be related."
Sakura laughed. "Naruto's his son."
Chiyo raised an eyebrow. "That certainly explains his talent."
Sakura laughed again.
Chiyo gave her a curious look. "What's so funny?"
"I've never heard anyone call him talented before," Sakura replied, her laughter slowing to a light giggle.
Chiyo looked at her in shock. "What passes for true talent in your village, if not a boy who can nearly bring down a cliff with one shot?" They reached the village level and landed on the street.
"Naruto started out as the worst of our class," Sakura replied as they turned a corner.
"The worst—how is that possible?"
"I'm not really sure. When we graduated he could barely make a proper bunshin. When we took our final test with Kakashi-sensei he surprised us all with kage bunshin. During our first mission we encountered an unexpected enemy who was tough, even for Kakashi-sensei. Kakashi-sensei got trapped in some kind of water prison jutsu and we all thought we were dead. But Naruto went from quivering on the ground to suddenly proclaiming he was going to be Hokage and coming up with a plan that freed Kakashi-sensei."
"Interesting," Chiyo commented as she rubbed a sore spot on her right arm.
"And when we were in the forest for the chuunin exam, he acted dumb sometimes and others he just blew me away by coming up with amazingly well thought out plans."
"And you don't consider that talented?" Chiyo asked as the hospital came into view.
Sakura frowned in thought. "It's not consistent. Kind of like he's got an idiot and a battle genius trapped in the same body and they take turns being in control."
Chiyo made a small chuckle. "Did he have good teachers as a child?"
Sakura considered this for a moment. "Well, he had Iruka sensei, but if you mean someone to help him at home, then, no."
"Hmm. That makes me wonder what kind of ninja he might have been if someone had taken the time to train him properly outside of school."
"You know...I never thought of that before," Sakura answered with a bit of shame to her tone.
"If he's gone from worst in your class, to doing that jutsu I saw a little while ago in less than three years..."
"Some of that is from the niji chakra though," Sakura countered.
Chiyo frowned. "Talent is not measured in raw power, Sakura. How many ninjas do you know who would think of putting sugikon inside a rasengan? As far as battles and techniques go, I would call that talent. I would even go so far as to call it genius."
Sakura looked at Chiyo with an incredulous expression. "Genius...Naruto? Are you serious?"
"Quite." Chiyo pointed in front of them. "Although it looks like we won't have time to discuss it further."
Sakura looked ahead and saw a Suna chuunin running towards them.
"Sakura-san, Chiyo-sama...we require your assistance inside!" the chuunin said quickly.
"Looks like my exam will have to wait," Chiyo said, and both of them ran into the hospital.
A doctor met Chiyo and Sakura as soon as they entered the room—which was buzzing with activity. "She's fibrillating. I can't get it to stop."
Sakura instantly recognized the young chuunin on the table as the one she had helped in the field.
Chiyo waved the nurses out of their way and Sakura put her hands on the girl's chest. "Oh no!" Sakura looked at the doctor in regret. "I should have known I hadn't learned enough to heal something this bad. The seals I put in place have failed. There's nothing I can do," she said sadly.
Chiyo put a hand on Sakura's shoulder. "There's something...I can do." She laid her hands on the dying girl. "Sasori...maybe by doing this, heaven will forgive me for not guiding you in the way I should have." Her hands glowed and the light spread over the girl's body. After a moment it lessened, then disappeared altogether...and Chiyo fell to the floor.
Sakura was instantly at the old woman's side. "Chiyo-san!" She noticed Chiyo wasn't breathing and checked her pulse. A looked of total bewilderment came over her face. "She...she's gone. I don't understand it."
"I do," said the doctor as she sat down in a chair. "What she used wasn't medical jutsu—it was a resurrection jutsu. Look," she said as she pointed at the girl.
Sakura's eyes widened. The chuunin girl was breathing slow and steady. "Chiyo gave her, her life energy," she said softly.
The doctor nodded solemnly. "I've never seen it done before, but my mother told me about it."
Sakura got to her feet and checked the chuunin's vitals. "It looks like she's made a full recovery. Why don't you show me the others?"
The doctor nodded and led the way.
Sakura finished healing Kankuro's leg and sighed heavily. "There's nothing else I can do until we come up with an antidote for that poison." She gritted her teeth. "Dammit. All my training and this is as much as I can do?" She sighed again. "I think I may need help. Please contact Tsunade-sama," she said to the doctor.
The instant Sakura saw Naruto; she wished she had waited just a few more minutes before entering the room. Naruto was sitting on the bed in nothing but his boxers. She had seen him in this state several times since they had become team mates, but those times had all been before he had left with Jiraiya and come back with muscles that were very, very... She shook her head to rid her mind of the biological reaction to the boy in front of her. She knew it didn't mean she was any less loyal to Lee and that it was a natural reaction to an attractive member of the opposite sex, but she still couldn't help but feel guilty. She put her hand in front of her face. "Naruto-kun...put something on please?"
Naruto blushed a bit in embarrassment. "Sorry. The nurse should be back with my clothes in a minute." He pulled up the sheets around himself. "You can look now."
Sakura sighed in relief and turned around—noting how stark the Suna hospital rooms were compared to the ones back home. The bed was against the middle of the wall to the right. There was a night stand but it was white stone with no flowers or patterns. The window was small, with no blinds or shutters. Pretty much everything was white or grayish. The whole thing made her feel bad for anyone who had to stay in one of these rooms for very long. "How are you feeling?"
"Fine. A little sore, but I'll live," Naruto replied as he rotated his neck to stretch it out.
"I'm waiting for Tsunade-sama. I can't heal the poison by myself yet," Sakura said with a frown as she sat on the chair beside the bed.
Naruto smiled comfortingly. "I'm sure you will someday."
"Thanks," Sakura replied.
Naruto looked out the tiny window, or at least he tried to—it was too small to see much. "I never knew Hinata could get so mad," he said with a half-hearted laugh.
"Well, people get mad when the person they love does something like that," Sakura explained matter-of-factly. "I'm sure you weren't too happy when Hinata told you she almost use that technique to save you when you got burned." she instantly knew she had said something she wasn't supposed to when she saw the look on Naruto's face.
Naruto's eyes were squinted into an apprehensive glare. "What do you mean?" he asked slowly.
Sakura couldn't think of anything to say. She hadn't thought that Hinata wouldn't have told Naruto about what happened in Ganshou. "I-uh...u...um."
Naruto felt a knot forming in his stomach. "What technique, Sakura-chan?" he demanded.
"I...um...ah...um...this isn't something I should tell you. It should be Hinata that does it," Sakura said as she lowered her eyes.
"I...I will," came Hinata's voice from the doorway.
Naruto's head snapped sideways. "What's she talking about, Hina-chan?" he demanded, his voice laced with concern.
Sakura stood up. "I think I should go." She turned to Naruto. "I'll check on you later." She might as well have said it to thin air seeing as how he didn't even turn his head to acknowledge her. She gave Hinata's shoulder a comforting squeeze before exiting the room.
When the door clicked shut Hinata sat down on the bed while Naruto watched her expectantly. After a moment of silence Naruto couldn't take it anymore. "Well?"
Hinata let out a long sigh. "D...do you remember that technique I used to bring that fish back to life...?"
Naruto's eyes snapped open.
(("Hinata, I want you to promise me that you'll never do that again," Tsunade said sternly.
The smile fell from Hinata's face. "Huh?" she said in confusion. Hadn't she done a good job? "Why?"
"The body has a lot less electrical current than chakra. Reviving a fish is one thing. If you use that technique on a human being...you'll die," Tsunade said gravely. Hinata made a small gasp. "I am declaring that jutsu as forbidden. You can't use it and you will not teach it to anyone. Is that understood?"
Hinata's face showed her disappointment. "Hai...Tsunade-sama."))
Naruto looked at his girlfriend in absolute horror. "If you'd used that...you...you would've..."
Hinata swallowed. "I...I didn't want you to die."
Naruto squeezed his eyes shut for a moment. When he opened them they held a mixture of anger and sadness. "My life...is never worth yours...you got that?" he said in a shaking voice.
"N...Naruto-kun, I..."
"NEVER!" Naruto yelled.
Hinata's eyes filled with tears. "I didn't want you to die!" she cried shrilly.
"You think I want you to die either?!" Naruto yelled back. "I can't believe you'd do something so stupid!"
Hinata stood so quickly that the chair she'd been occupying fell over. As she ran out the door she bumped into a nurse carrying Naruto's clothes—muttering an 'excuse me' as she disappeared from sight.
The nurse stared at the sullen boy in pity for a moment before speaking. "I'll um...I'll just leave these here," she said quietly as she placed the clothes on the nightstand.
Once the nurse was gone from the room Naruto's face fell into his hands and he exhaled a long, frustrated sigh. "Dammit."
Three days later Tsunade was busy drawing the last of the poison from her final patient. She wiped the sweat from her forehead. "I think that's all I can remove with this method." She turned to Sakura. "Let's go make the antidote so we can get these people out of here," she said with a smile.
Sakura responded in kind and nodded. "Nhm!"
They left the intensive care unit and walked down the long hallway. "I'm sorry, shishou. I failed you," Sakura said suddenly.
"How did you fail?" Tsunade asked in curiosity.
"I couldn't draw out the poison like you showed me."
Tsunade smiled. "Sakura, you've studying under me for less than a year. You're being too hard on yourself."
Sakura sighed. "I guess."
As they got near Naruto's room Tsunade stopped. "I'm going to see how my son's doing. Why don't you get started and I'll meet you at the greenhouse."
Sakura nodded and walked away.
Tsunade saw that Naruto was staring at the bed sheets with a listless expression and frowned a bit as she walked into the room. "Hey there, kiddo," she said as she sat down on the chair next to him.
Silence.
"What's wrong?" Tsunade asked as she bent her head down so she could attempt making eye contact.
Naruto didn't look up. "I yelled at Hinata," he said quietly.
Tsunade blinked in surprise. "Yelled at her? Why?"
Naruto sighed and raised his head. "Do you remember that jutsu you told Hina-chan was forbidden?"
Tsunade nodded.
"Well, I found out that she almost used it to save me when I got burned."
Tsunade's face set into a frown. "I see," she said in a disapproving tone.
"I got mad when I found out. I told her she was stupid," Naruto said regretfully.
"Hmm. While I agree with your assessment, you probably didn't phrase it in the best way. When did this happen?"
"Three days ago."
"Three days?! You can't leave something like this for so long," Tsunade chastised.
Naruto sighed. "I wanna to talk to her, but I wouldn't know what to say. I don't know how to face her after calling her that."
Tsunade chewed her inner cheek a bit in thought. "My mother always told me 'Never go to bed angry'."
Naruto looked confused. "Huh?"
"When you're in a relationship that is really important to you, you should always try to resolve things before you go to sleep. The longer you leave things alone, the harder it is to make up."
Naruto was silent for a moment before nodding his head. "Okay, as soon as they let me out of here."
A sudden look of confusion came over Tsunade's face. "Why are you still in here anyway?"
Naruto frowned. "They won't tell me."
Tsunade cocked an eyebrow. "Oh really?"
The door to the chief resident's office opened and Tsunade strolled in. The owner of said office looked up in surprise. "May I help you?"
Tsunade folded her arms and glared at the balding man. "Yes. You can tell me why my son is still in here when he should've been released on the first day."
"Who's your son?" the chief asked tentatively.
"Uzumaki Naruto," Tsunade answered impatiently.
The chief instantly looked nervous. He hadn't expected the boy's mother to visit. "I...see. Please have a seat."
When the chief didn't start talking immediately Tsunade got impatient. "Well?"
The chief clear his throat. "I didn't want to share this information with anyone until I was sure." He stood up, opened a file cabinet drawer, pulled out a manila folder and retook his seat. "It would seem…that Naruto may be suicidal."
"What?" Tsunade said with an incredulous tone.
"My family has a kekkai genkai. Even if there are no scars, wounds change the cells from their original state by strengthening them in case of another wound in the same area. We can see even the oldest of wounds as green lines on the skin. I was looking over his injuries from the battle and...there were over forty cuts in the area between the elbow and the wrist on his left arm. It doesn't look like the kind of wounds made by battle. They are precise and consistently..."
"Stop," Tsunade said suddenly. She closed her eyes, shook her head and sighed. "Thank you for your concern, but they aren't suicide wounds."
The chief looked skeptical and slightly insulted. Who was this woman to question his analysis? "With all due respect, ma'am, I would think I know more about medicine than you."
Tsunade laughed slightly. "Do you even know who I am?"
"No," the chief answered with trepidation.
"I am Tsunade—Hokage of Konoha."
The chief went white as a sheet. "Ts...Tsunade-sama. Forgive me. Of course you would know what you are talking about." Tsunade smirked. "But would you mind telling me exactly what is going on then?"
Tsunade made an unhappy sigh. "Practice."
The look on the chief's face was one of utter confusion. "Practice?"
"My son has healing ability. About seven months ago he showed it to me by making a large cut in the area you talked about."
"I understand. I'll get his release papers then," the chief said with a relieved smile.
The two stood and shook hands. "Thank you, for having such concern over my son," Tsunade said graciously.
The chief nodded and smiled again. "Of course."
"How do you know about that?" Naruto asked his mother in disbelief.
Tsunade folded her arms. "I have my sources. The chief resident thought you were suicidal. That's why he was keeping you here."
"Sorry. I shoulda told you earlier," Naruto said as he pulled on his t-shirt.
Tsunade pursed her lips. "That would've been nice."
Naruto grimaced apologetically. "I didn't want you to worry. Plus, most of it was while I was away."
"Just promise me that from now on you'll tell me about any training that you purposely hurt yourself for," Tsunade asked as she gave him a hug.
"I will, Kaa-san."
They parted and stood up. "Well, now that that's settled, I have to join Sakura in the greenhouse. Why don't you go find Hinata?"
Naruto nodded. "Hai."
Hinata was sitting at the ice cream shop. She slowly ate her treat, heeding Sakura's warning about headaches. She wasn't sure how to apologize to Naruto. He'd been so angry. She had told Sakura about the argument and she had said that it was best to let Naruto cool down. Hinata sighed when she noticed she had carved Naruto's name in the frozen confection. "Naruto-kun..."
"Hey, Hina-chan," came Naruto's voice from behind the young Hyuuga.
Hinata blinked and turned around. "Naruto-kun!" she exclaimed in surprise.
Naruto made a small smile. "Can you come with me for a minute?"
Hinata slowly nodded and the couple left the shop.
"Naruto-kun, I..." Hinata began.
Naruto put a hand on Hinata's shoulder. "Wait...I don't wanna talk about this out here."
Hinata nodded and followed in silence.
They made their way to the building the Konoha team had been staying at while in Suna. It was a fairly long, four story building with the usual, dull Suna architecture. Once inside they went up to the room that the guys all shared.
Naruto sat on the couch and Hinata followed suit. "I wanted to apologize," he said after a moment.
"Wh...what do you have to apologize for?" Hinata asked in confusion.
Naruto shook his head. "I'm the only one who needs to apologize. Yeah, what you almost did wasn't the brightest idea in the world, but I probably would've done the same thing if it was you. I shouldn't have called you stupid. I was just...scared. To think you might've sacrificed yourself for me...it makes my chest hurt." His eyes were filled with fear and sadness as he stroked her forehead. "Please, don't ever die for me. If you think you can live and still save me I'm all for it. But..." his eyes misted over, "I don't want to live, if you're not there too."
Hinata wiped at the tears that were now making their way down her face and nodded before pulling the boy she loved into a tight embrace. "I promise."
...TO BE CONTINUED
